Hi everyone! It's been a great week! The weather has been great and we
had a baptism last Saturday! Sammie got baptized! It was a great
baptismal service. We tried to involve the youth in it as much as
possible. Sammie's best friend tanner who is in the young men's with
him baptized him. Patrick who is also one of Sammie's good friend gave
an amazing talk! Sammie got confirmed yesterday and is now and
official I member of the church. He is such a great man. I'm so glad
that I was able to be in this area when he gets baptized. I'll send
pictures.

Today we had a great picnic in a park. We had a great game of football
and I loved every minute of it. I got very dirty. I'll send a picture
of that too.

Also I am staying another 6 weeks here in Vineland with Elder
Bucheger. Super excited to be here another 6 weeks!

Love Elder Shumway

Thanks for the late letter. I had been checking my iPad throughout the
day and it finally came around 8:00. I was happy when I got it. I was
in Cherry Hill when I got it. We had a devotional for new members and
investigators of the stake. So school is finally out! I think the
school year went by pretty fast. I'm sure it was a busy week. Is Lila
going into high school next year? What colors are you going to paint
the house? Thanks for waking up early to take puggles on walks. I'm
sure she appreciates them. Summer will probably go by fast again this
year.

Yeah my wound is healing pretty well. It's not completely gone but I
don't have hardly any pain. It was very painful.

What kind of movies will be playing his summer? No big surf? That's
ok. I thought that most of the time there were too many people there
anyways. It was fun, but just too many people. I honestly would rather
stay home and swim for free with a lot less people. It's good to get
rid of junk. I've seen a lot of junk on my mission in people's homes.
Haha you're funny mom to keep my clothes out by your bed. I'm sure 

those clothes are getting pretty

lonely just sitting there. I'm glad they will be waiting for me when I
get home.

My suit is nicer now. No more stickiness. It is a nice suit. I'm
wearing it in the pictures I'm sending you from Sammie's baptism.

Woah my flight itinerary! It's just got real! I have never met Sister
Phelps I think. I've never talked to her. I don't think we've ever
been in the same zone.

The baptism went really well. Couldn't have gone better honestly. I
have some pictures to send. He does go by Sammie. Oh Annaka! Yeah so
we have taught her many times about baptism and why it's important and
that everyone needs to be baptized by proper authority and she just
won't do it. Super frustrating but we aren't giving up. So the dogs
belonged to a less active member. We had just stopped by to see how
she was doing. Jennifer was a former investigator and had referred
herself again. We went over there the day we got the referral, and she
has had a lot of health problems recently that has made her want to
make changes in her life. She is a really nice woman and she said at
one time she was going to be baptized but it fell through and she said
that she does now want to get baptized and is serious about it. All
she needs to do is marry her fiancé who she is living with. We haven't
had an appointment since then cause of her health problems.

That's good you got the hallway back together. I think I remember you
thinking it might be mold. Was it? Wow Sister Nichols is already home!
That's great! I'm sure her family is excited to be with her.

I'll keep working hard. There's plenty of things here that we need to
do. So I already know what's happening with transfers. Elder Bucheger
and I are staying together for another 6 weeks. My area is very
beautiful, very green. I don't think you told me that you got Elders
in the ward! That's great! Elders are the best! Carson should go out
teaching with them! Sounds like those elders will be getting a good
dinner. Hope my week goes well too. Hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Shumway

I am healing well. I have a lot less pain. I am feeling very good. I am still taking my antibiotic. It's almost gone, there's only about 3 left. They put a bandage over it.

Summers are always fun! I am excited for you guys too. Are you going to go to the movies again this year or to big surf? What kind of junk are you planning to throw out? 

I did get a new suit. I wore it to district meeting and I got a lot of compliments from it. Unfortunately I wore it right after my surgery and my would had been leaking quite a bit and had made the pants a little stinky so I took it into the dry cleaners. I'll get it back today. I got it at a store called boscovs. I really like that store. It's kind of like a Macy's. It was about $170.

Hope you had a nice nap. That's good that spencer is still doing well. I'm sure he's had quite a mission. He's had his language change and his culture change. Pretty crazy. I wonder what he's like now. He seems to look a lot more like his dad. Flying into gateway? I wouldn't mind doing that either. Shorter drive home. Less people at that airport too. 

That's great to hear about Lila making the dance teams. She looked like a really good dancer in that one video you sent me. Hopefully you got pictures of the costume so we can laugh about it in years to come. 

Our investigators are doing well. Sammie will be baptized this Saturday! Really excited! He is such a great young man. Did I tell you about his earrings? We have Annaka as well. But she doesn't want to be baptized she just wants to learn. Which is kind of frustrating cause she is very prepared. I just wish she would accept the invitation. We have another investigator who is promising. She had self referred herself this past week. She had been taught by missionaries before in the past. We stopped by one night. She had ordered a bible, she wanted one cause she feels like it's time to come back to God and go back to church. We had a great discussion with her and is very willing to be baptized and what's to be. She is really awesome. Her name is Jennifer.

Hope you had fun at your scout meeting! Also hope to hear from you again today!

Love Elder Shumway

Hey everybody sorry for not sending a weekly email these past couple
of weeks. This one will be a short one. The only that that's happening
this week is Sammie is going to be baptized on Saturday! Really
excited! He is a very prepared young man and I will be sure to send
many pictures of the baptism.

Here's a picture of me with two puppies!

Love Elder Shumway

Hey dad! I'm feeling good. I am healing up well I'll see if I can send
a picture of my soup sometime soon. Glad to hear that summer is just
around the corner. What are some plans that you and the family want to
do? Are you going to go to the movies or to big surf? I hope you guys
have a lot of fun.

Thanks for the sports updates. Interesting how the Celtics are beating
the Cavs. I would like if the Cavs would get beat by them that be
nice. I guess the lottery for the NBA is nearby I wonder who the suns
Will pick. I am doing well. I haven't sent a message to Darin yet. I
will today. I liked jimmy a lot too. We had some good times. Who is
Mark Lindblom? Did I know him before? So the Goodman's are moving? Mom
did send me a video of Lila dancing. Haven't watched it yet. I'm sure
she does really well. Mom sent me a few pictures of Carson receiving
that award. Glad Sam was ok. Hopefully that doesn't happen again. It's
been raining all day today.

Love Elder Shumway

Hi Mom. I'm emailing you from the doctors office right now. I really
enjoyed yesterday. It was great to see my friends and family. I'm glad
my friends could come. Haha Torie will finally have friends. I'm sure
she does now. I would love to play tennis with porter. I've actually
been playing a lot lately and I've still got it.

I'm going to talk to Elder Ostrom about coming out in October. I'll
also talk to Jon about it too. It's going to be super fun when we all
go next summer! It will all work out I'm sure.

I'm at the urgent care right now waiting for my name to be called.
Thanks for transferring some money. Why did Colten go to the urgent
care. Hope he's ok. Hopefully everything will be better after this
visit to the urgent care.

I did enjoy our call yesterday. It was a really good time. All my
siblings have changed so much and I can see that they have matured.
I'm glad that they have.

Thanks for signing me up for school. I really appreciate it. I'll have
to send bishop an email. If he doesn't have any I'm sure I'll find a
job somewhere.

That's too bad about James. Were they able to talk to each Other? I
sure am glad that we are able to call each other and see each others
faces.

You all have made my day too. Don't know if I will be able to do too
much cause I'm in a lot of pain when I walk so I walk slow. But again
I hope everything will be better after this visit. Not one of my most
fun birthdays but that ok.

Love Elder Shumway

How much money did you transfer in? It didn't really cost anything to
go. Everything worked out with the surgery. The doctor said that it is
very possible that it will come back. He said that if it's back when I
go home I'll have to get it removed by a surgeon. Cause there's still
some underneath. The insurance worked. I'm glad you sent it to me.
Hopefully I won't be needing it after today.

It's a Pilonidal cyst

Yep I will no longer be a teenager. I will be a 20 year old this time next week! It seems really weird to me too. Thank you for your small gift! I'm fine with my birthday present staying home. I would just like another suit. I really only have one nice one and I'd like to have another one. I wear a suit about 2-3 times a week. I enjoy wearing more just slacks and a short sleeved shirt. My slacks are doing well. 

We have been out walking quite a bit. Not so much this week now that we have more miles. When we go over miles we just are told to not do it again basically. Not really any punishment just an invitation to do better next month. Haven't heard from Jay at all. We've been trying to get ahold of him and haven't gotten an answer. Also that lady is making small progress. She has canceled our last two appointments last minute. So we will see how it goes. We have another appointment with her tomorrow. Hopefully she keeps that one. I try and take pictures of people in my mission. Sammy is doing well but for some reason he didn't come to church yesterday. 

Yeah I do miss my dog. Every time I see a nice dog I will take a picture with it. It's just something that I've done. Elder Bucheger gave me the card for the app. I didn't know you already had one. You can still use the one you had. 

I will be calling at 5:00 here. I'm really excited! I hope you guys are too. I think this one will be good. Cause it's my last one and it will be only a few more months. That would be great to see porter, Torie and Teryn! I'm excited to see them. 

Carson told me that the volleyball season is now over. I guess they had lost in the first round of the playoffs. That's exciting that Carson will be going to BYU for volleyball camp. I'm sure he will enjoy himself. It is a lot safer to fly than to drive. I'm sure they will have a lot of fun up there.

Annaka is doing well. We are meeting with her at a members home for a lesson and dinner tonight! Super excited about that! She has asked to be taught more so now we are meeting with her three times a week. We were able to just stop by the lady that flagged us down. She is super busy and she probably won't turn out to be anything but we will see. I would love to have some names. I actually need some cause we will be going to the temple sometime soon. If you could get those sealing sticks done that would be great. 

That's a lot of missionaries coming home soon. I guess Caleb is coming home a transfer early? Ashlyn should be coming home at the end of May. I'm sure her and her family is excited. I would love to see Katie and Grant there! 

I'm glad you all are still doing grandpas yard. I guess Lila and Sam are probably more of a help now. I remember when they wouldn't really do anything that whole time we mowed. How was the shindig?

I can't open these pictures on here cause they are linked to google and I can't get on google. Could you just send them through the cloud?

Love Elder Shumway

Hey Dad. Just had a great day playing a lot of basketball. Super fun!
Didn't do so great today. I missed a lot of shots. Had a couple of
good layups though. Here the weather is nice here too. It's been
raining these past few days here too. I always enjoyed fathers and
sons camp out. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun. I'm sure Carson
will have a good time too. Carson looks very grown up from the picture
that are being sent to me. Looks like he's got some facial hair too. I
heard about about that story too. Pretty crazy.

Thanks for the sports updates. I've heard about those crazy expensive
shoes. Are they nice shoes? Sounds like everything is he same in
nursery. And the shindig sounded fun. Cheese itz are pretty good.

I'm excited to see y'all next Sunday. Technology is really great!

Love Elder Shumway

Happy May everybody. This past week has been pretty good. We have been
walking quite a bit this past week because of lack of miles. It has
been pretty warm and lots of pollen in the air. But it has been great
to be outside more. We met a man who was very friendly to us as we
were walking around. His name is Jay and he owns a tshirt printing
place. He said he's somebody who love to help out the community and
almost every  Saturday he puts on a service project in the city of
Millville. We told him we would love it if we could be involved in
that too. He said that would be sweet. We also talked to him about the
church and invited him to come but he said he couldn't this week but
maybe next week. He's a really awesome guy. Hopefully some good comes
from it.

We also met this woman as we were about to visit a recent convert.
Before we knocked on his apartment door a woman next door was sitting
outside and she talked to us and she has talked with missionaries
before. She shared with us that she has had some recent deaths in the
family. We asked her if she had any idea where those family members
went after they died. She frankly told us that she had no idea. We
said that we have those answers. We gave her a plan of salvation
pamphlet and she was really interested and we have an appointment with
her this Thursday

.

Our most progressing investigators name is Sammy. He is the grandson
of a member. He is 15 and is a great young man. We had two lesson with
him this past week. We taught the restoration and the plan of
salvation. He is keeping all of his commitments and is reading ahead
in the Book of Mormon. He has a Baptismal date for May 27.

One of our investigators who's name is Annaka isn't doing the best.
She told us that she no longer wants to be baptized and just wants to
learn about the church. We told her that we are more than willing to
teach her but our purpose and goal is to help her eventually enter the
waters of baptism. We will keep working with her. Hopefully she will
have a change of heart. We are praying for one.

Anyways hope everybody is doing well. Mother's Day is two weeks
Super excited! Have a great week!

Love Elder Shumway


Hey dad. Nice subject. That's Elder Buchegers birthday too. Sounds
like the Blackhawks didn't do so hot against the knights. They ended
up with a pretty good record though. Carson will probably be a really
good volleyball player his senior year.

Wow Nate Fenn is going Colorado Springs. That's where Elder Bucheger
is from. It is interesting to see where everybody is assigned to serve
missions. Dawson is going to Arkansas! He will do good there. I'm
anticipating Mother's Day as well. We have decided to do it at 5pm
our time. So it would be about 2:00 your time. Teryn is invited to
come. Thanks for the sports updates. Have a great week!

Love Elder Shumway

Yep Mother's Day is getting very close. I'm really excited! Christmas does seem like it was yesterday though. Don't know what time I'll call yet. I'm debating whether or not to do it in the apartment or the church building. Probably the church building, cause elder Bucheger doesn't have wifi in the apartment. I'm sure this next one will work out just fine as well. You guys get out of church around 11:00 right? I'll probably let you know what time next week.

Spring has been beautiful here too. There is a layer of pollen on everything though. Wow 100! That's hot. It's been pretty hot here, has been getting up to 85 degrees here. I'm glad you liked the package. Yeah I don't really need that coat anymore. I don't remember where I got the copper. I did it when I was in Cambridge. Elder Fifita was my companion. 

I have joined the iCloud. I can see a lot of what you send. If you could just send all pictures and videos through that that would be awesome. Cause the videos through email are still very blurry. 

Yay a new package! She is very nice. Haha I actually am not a huge coconut fan. But Elder Bucheger is so he can eat it. He will also like the blueberries. 

Things are still good with Elder Bucheger and myself. It might be my last area. I'm not sure yet. I guess we will know in the next few months. I'll try and get some people to send you some pictures. Yep we have new miles today! I'm really glad. This past week has been pretty good. We unfortunately had to drive some but we did walk a lot. I'm not sure how many miles but it was a lot. I am glad it wasn't freezing cold. But it has been pretty warm.

So you are gonna have to stay in the Queen Creek school huh? Sorry you didn't get the job. At least you have a job. Now you can improve more on your nice skills.

Thank you for transferring the money. Sometime soon I'm probably going to buy another suit. 

Annaka is doing ok. She doesn't want to be baptized anymore unfortunately. She just wants to learn more. She says that she prayed about being baptized and feels like she doesn't need to. We aren't too happy about it but we will continue to teach her. That lady who flagged us down set up an appointment with us and then she stood us up. Happens all the time unfortunately. I thought to just send the names with a letter. I hope you guys can get those names done asap. I'd like to continue to do family names in the philly temple. I'll have to send Carson a note. Seems like he had fun doing his hair with his friends.

Andrew is a funny guy. Why not get a job at frys? I think I would be good at that job! It seems unreal to talk about school. I remember dreaming about it saying that it will never come and now it's here. I need to talk to Paul sometime and see how he's doing. Sorry that he's sick. 

Harris pizza that sounds good. Glad to hear Tate is doing well. James should be coming home soon. Any other missionaries coming home soon? Dawson is going to Arkansas! Good for him. Sorry to hear about Sister Whis. I pray for her that she will be ok. Do you know where Katie and Grant are going in Colorado? I would love to see the dance video.

Love Elder Shumway